A satisfying relationship with God--how?

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished--he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law (Romans 3:19-28).

These are words of great comfort, but they can be hard to understand if we only read them casually. Paul was a very educated man, and he constructs his arguments with the detail one would expect of a lawyer. So today, let us look at Paul’s words carefully so that we truly understand the remarkable gift God has given us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Paul begins, Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. To follow Paul’s argument, we must understand what the "law" is. What makes this tricky is that Paul uses the word "law" two different ways in Romans. If you look at verse 21, you will notice that "Law" is capitalized and is part of the phrase "the Law and the Prophets". Jesus uses the word "law" the same way in Matthew chapter 22: Jesus replied: " `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." When we read the phrase "the Law and the Prophets", this refers to the entire Old Testament. The Law refers to the first five books written by Moses the lawgiver, who brought the terms of God’s covenant to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. The Prophets refers to every other Old Testament writing, because anyone who is chosen by God to speak for Him is a prophet, and all the books of the Old Testament are thus by definition written by prophets. So when you see the phrase "the Law and the Prophets", this is another way to say "the Old Testament."

But most of the time, Paul speaks of "the law" in a different way. Usually Paul uses this word to refer to God’s rules by which He expects us to live. God summed up the law this way in Leviticus chapter 19: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy. The Ten Commandments were given by God as illustrations of what a holy life would look like.

But there are two problems that the law causes. One problem is that of pride. In Matthew chapter 19 we read of an example: A man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"…Jesus replied…"If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." "Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, " Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself." "All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?" Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Here is an example of a man who looked at the law and thought that he could please God by keeping it perfectly; what a terrible blow to his ego to find out that his life had not been perfect, and that perfection would cost him more than he was willing to give up.

People like this young man are deluding themselves when they think that they can live a holy life pleasing to God. James writes, whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it (James 2:10). Perfection is to be without even one tiny flaw. When God’s law tells us to be holy, it means that we are to be perfect—perfect our entire lives, from the moment of conception until the last breath that we take. Who can be perfect from womb to grave? No one. In Psalm 143 David prays, Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you. This is the other problem of the law. It is impossible for anyone to keep it perfectly as God expects.

This why Paul writes: Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law. The law silences every mouth because if we are honest with ourselves, we realize that we have nothing to brag to God about. We are incapable of keeping God’s law, and so we are unacceptable to God.

The next word that we need to understand is "righteousness". The root of this word is "right" which means correct, good, without crookedness or imperfection. When Paul speaks of righteousness, he speaks of how God regards us—if God sees us as righteous, He sees only perfection. Look again at Paul’s words: no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law. If we want God’s blessings, love and care, we want to look righteous to Him--but since we cannot keep the law as God expects, trying to live holy lives will not result in Him declaring us righteous.

But if we cannot keep the law, what was the point in God giving it to us? Paul goes on to say, rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. The purpose of the law isn’t to get us to live perfect lives—that is impossible. Rather, the purpose of the law is to serve as a mirror, to show us what we look like. When we look in the mirror of the law, really look, we find nothing to brag about. When we look at the law honestly, we can see that our lives have been filled with lawbreaking--as we neglect giving God honor and respect by skipping church, or using His Name as a cuss word, or praying only when we want something from Him; as we show disrespect to our parents; as we get into fights; as we participate in sex outside of marriage; as we cheat on tests; as we tell lies; and as we make money and the things that it buys the focus of our attention. When we measure our lives by the yardstick of the law, we realize that we come up woefully short.

Thankfully, God has given us an alternative way to find righteousness. Paul writes, but now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. Already in the Old Testament, God offered another way for believers to find righteousness. Back in Leviticus 20:7-8, God said Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Notice that even back then, God did not expect that we could be successful in being holy on our own. Instead, He says I am the LORD, who makes you holy. We can only become righteous when God gives it to us as a gift.

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe…God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. In the Old Testament, God’s people received mercy through the sacrifice of a spotless lamb on an altar dedicated to God; God allowed that lamb to serve as a stand-in for the one lamb whose blood could be poured out in place of ours—Jesus, the Lamb of God. Forgiveness of sins only comes through the shedding of blood; God said through Moses the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life (Leviticus 17:11). This is why the Son of God had to take on a human body when He was born of the virgin Mary; Jesus had to have the blood of life in Him, so that He could sacrifice that blood on the altar of the cross for our sins. If Jesus had not made a gift of His life for us, our sins would not have been atoned for and we would remain unrighteous, unacceptable to God.

Jesus’ blood has done all the work—a little further on in Romans, Paul writes the death he died, he died to sin once for all (Romans 6:10). Jesus has made full atonement for our sinfulness—there is nothing left to be done that we can assist with in any way. The only thing that we are called to do is have faith, because this gift of righteousness only comes to all who believe. But even faith is not our work—in Ephesians 2:8-9 Paul tells us it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. No wonder Paul adds no one can boast—we do absolutely nothing towards winning God’s favor—it is all God’s gift of love to us.

In his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished--he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. If you were wondering how mere animal sacrifices could forgive the sins of Old Testament believers, here is the answer—they could not. Until Jesus shed His blood on the cross, no sin was actually atoned for; in his forbearance [God] had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. Remember, we receive righteousness by faith in Christ. Righteousness for all mankind was made possible on one day 2,000 years ago. Ever since Good Friday, Christians everywhere have looked back across the years to the cross of Calvary for the promise of forgiveness. God’s people of the Old Testament also looked across time for salvation, but they looked to the future, the promise of a Redeemer who was yet to come. Using Abraham’s faith as an example, Paul records Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness (Romans 4:3). Since Jesus had not died on the cross yet, the sins of the Old Testament believers like Abraham were left unpunished until the time of Paul, the time when Jesus died and rose from the dead—all the sins of the Old Testament believers, all the sins of we who live in the New Testament, all those sins were punished in the body and soul of Jesus on the cross. As a result, all people in all times who believe in Jesus and the gift of blood that He offered on your behalf and mine, stand forgiven and righteous in God’s eyes.

Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. The final important word that we will consider today is the word "justified." This comes from the root word "just" from which we also get the word "justice." When we think of these words together, we think of fair, legally correct, law-abiding. Now we know that all of us break God’s laws; Paul says there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:22-23). But remember the word "justify"—God is the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. It is God who makes us holy; it is God who declares us righteous. When we believe in Jesus, God changes our legal status. Imagine God’s throne room as a court of law. We sit at the defendant’s table. Satan is the prosecutor; he accuses us of breaking God’s law and demands that we be sentenced to hell for punishment. But Jesus is our defense attorney. He simply approaches the bench and tells His Father that the sentence has already been served--by Him. In response, the heavenly Judge looks at us in love and declares us innocent of all charges. Even though we are truly guilty, for Jesus’ sake the Father changes our legal status from lawbreaker to law-abiding citizen—He has "justified" us, told Satan and everyone else that as far as He is concerned, we are "just". And this had absolutely nothing to do with what we have or haven’t done—but it has everything to do with what Jesus has done. We are justified only by trusting in Jesus as the defense attorney who can get for us the verdict of "not guilty."

This is the Good news that brings life. We are not saved by our prideful efforts to please God through obeying the law; we are saved when we humbly acknowledge our sins and trust in God’s loving mercy offered through His Son. May this message of God’s forgiveness and acceptance fill your heart with joy, today and every day.